Tag: SpaceX
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NASA and SpaceX launch a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station
A shock collar forms around SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it ascended from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, August 4, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to begin a roughly 40-hour journey to the ISS. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 9:02 p.m. EDT: The Cygnus spacecraft…
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Rocket Report: Falcon 9 is back; Starship could be recovered off Australia
Welcome to Edition 7.05 of the Rocket Report! The Federal Aviation Administration grounded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for 15 days after a rare failure of its upper stage earlier this month. The FAA gave the green light for Falcon 9 to return to flight July 25, and within a couple of days, SpaceX successfully launched…
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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-29A) on Aug. 2, 2024, in support of the Starlink 10-6 mission. It added 23 Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites to a growing satellite internet constellation of more than 6,200 in low Earth orbit. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 1:20 a.m. EDT: SpaceX successfully landed…
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Although it’s not final, SpaceX just got good news from the FAA on Starbase
After SpaceX decided to launch orbital missions of its Starship rocket from Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo a federal environmental review of the site to ensure it was safe to do so. As a part of this multi-year process, the Federal Aviation Administration completed a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment in…
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Although it’s not final, SpaceX just got good news from the FAA on Starbase
After SpaceX decided to launch orbital missions of its Starship rocket from Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo a federal environmental review of the site to ensure it was safe to do so. As a part of this multi-year process, the Federal Aviation Administration completed a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment in…
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SpaceX moving Dragon splashdowns to Pacific to solve falling debris problem
Sometime next year, SpaceX will begin returning its Dragon crew and cargo capsules to splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean and end recoveries of the spacecraft off the coast of Florida. This will allow SpaceX to make changes to the way it brings Dragons back to Earth and eliminate the risk, however tiny, that a piece…
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SpaceX completes 300th booster reflight during first of planned back-to-back Falcon 9 launches
A Falcon 9 rocket stands at the ready to support the Starlink 10-4 mission, which will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on July 28, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 2:13 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of the Starlink satellites. SpaceX continued its post-mishap resurgence with the…
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SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX Update 6:23 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of the 21 Starlink satellites. Hours after a successful…
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NASA nears decision on what to do with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft
The astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last month still don’t know when they will return to Earth. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 51 days, six weeks longer than originally planned, as engineers on the groundwork through problems with Starliner’s propulsion system. The problems…
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SpaceX roars back to orbit barely two weeks after in-flight anomaly
Early on Saturday morning, at 1:45 am local time, a Falcon 9 rocket soared into orbit from its launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. By some measures this was an extremely routine mission—it was, after all, SpaceX’s 73rd launch of this calendar year. And like many other Falcon 9 launches this year, the…